Creative Endeavors in Art

Dias De Los Muertos Birthday Diorama

I have an affinity for the dias de los meuertos celebration.  I love the fact that Mexicans celebrate the deceased in a festive, rejoicing way.  Thinking of Wiley, Morgan and Parker being part of this big party in the afterlife gives me a feeling of peace and happiness for them.

For my sister,  Val's birthday, I made her a dias de los muertos birthday diorama!  Val loves to make dioramas, so I thought I'd try my hand at it for her.  Here is what I came up with:

 

I had so much fun creating this diorama for Val, I think I'll make one in honor of my boys in Heaven!

Kurt Schwitters Inspired Collage

Since I love collage so much, I've been reading up on important "collagists" in art history.  Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) work caught my eye.  He would take everyday ephemara and make them into beautiful collages, a new medium at the time.  Schwitters is also credited for his pioneering contribution to installation art and found object artwork.

I took text from magazines and created my own collage reflecting modern day type and advertising.

 

 

Crossroads

One of my favorite things to paint are abstracts.  I don't set out with anything in mind.  I just like to see the painting unfold.

Portrait of Gierma

In this painting, I just used a stabilo pencil and titanium white acrylic paint.  I love to be able to use just these two things to create such a great range of values.   For some reason, Gierma looks older in this painting, like he's 18!  For the life of me, I could not figure out what it is that made him look older!  

Tons of Artwork in 3 Months!

From the beginning of the 2014 to the beginning of April 1st, I had produced a large amount of artwork!!!!  What had been the catalyst?  Well, the beginning of the new year with goals in mind was part of it.  The main drive has come from taking another amazing on-line art workshop by Misty Mawn.  Actually, I'm taking another fantastic on-line workshop by Judy Wise.  These two artists are so fantastically inspiring!!!  I set a goal to take my artwork to the next level.  By immersing myself in art and doing A LOT of it, I feel like I've accomplished that.

This is a still life of a bouquet of flowers Steve gave me along with the poseable guy holding one of my paint brushes.  :0)  My roses are getting better!

More posts coming...

 

 

Learning From Matisse

Taking an on-line mixed media workshop from Jeanne Oliver called "Studying Under the Masters".  This week's lesson is on Matisse.  The painting I picked to replicate is called "Ballet Dancer Seated on a Stool".  I learned a lot from this excercise!  I had to do several layers in order to capture the color combinations that Matisse had going in his painting even though it seemed pretty simple and straight forward.  Also, I learned that Matisse was definitely a graphic in his composition.  For instance, the bold black outline on the right side of the dancer.  It's not realistic, but it definitely makes her stand out and it works with his painting!

Here is Matisse's original:

Here is my version.  I'm really happy with how it turned out!  :0)

 

 

Poppies of Remembrance

Wow, my last post was in May!  I definitely took a summer hiatus!  Well,  I've been dabbling with this poppy painting during the summer.  I'm pleased with how it turned out!  I was kind of going for a botanical illustration look.  I've always loved poppies and just recently I found out that poppies are the flowers of remembrance.  :0) 

Fly By Night

Here is another abstract painting done with a darker underpainting. I love the process of not knowing what will emerge until I'm half way into the painting. :0)  It's hard to tell in the pic, but the dark objects are a vintage key and gears.

Peek-A-Boo Hearts

Almost finished with this abstract. I love adding layers and layers until hearts and a window revealed themselves!!

Forever Bright

Decided to do a pastel of Carly instead of painting in acylics.  It took me a while as I would work on it a little at a time.  But I really enjoyed the process of recreating Carly and feeling connected once again to our beloved dog, forever bright.